PLANTS CONCERT
A piece of music interpreted by plants, with plant mediators Alfred Marseille (plant and composition), Peter Bouman (plant guitar), Jos den Brok (plant percussion) and Robin Noorda (plant camera).
The composition “Photosynthesis” is inspired by a text written by Mariken Heitman, (from the novel 'Wormmaan', chapter 21):
“We don't think about photosynthesis on a daily basis. Had it a sound, everything would be different. The first gray rays of light would produce a soft murmur. The trees towering over everyone else put their chlorophyll into action. The green pump begins, carbon dioxide enters the leaf and oxygen exits, all those leaves breathing. Soft clicks sound, of breaking and rearranging molecules. Buzzing sugars are shipped to growing points. As the light gains strength, as the sun rises higher and higher, the murmur and click will give way to a modest, polyphonic murmur, as shrubs and small trees also catch on, their chlorophyll also catching light and assimilating molecules. Breaking, shuffling, building, shipping. The earth becomes adrift, breathing louder and louder. And then, as the sun makes its way to its zenith, the grasses, herbs and agricultural crops will begin to sing, high and harmonious. They will drown out the insects, the trucks, factories and airplanes, forming a continuous carpet of sound. Their synthesis is sharp and quick, they have no more than a season to come to a finale, to seed. A chorus of alchemical green making dust out of seeming nothingness, out of gas and light, Until the sun, past its zenith, slowly sinks and first the low herbs, then the shrubs and finally the trees hold their breath and cease their singing. With the night the earth stills, temporarily."
Performed on 7 september 2024 at Loods 6 Open, Amsterdam.
A piece of music interpreted by plants, with plant mediators Alfred Marseille (plant and composition), Peter Bouman (plant guitar), Jos den Brok (plant percussion) and Robin Noorda (plant camera).
The composition “Photosynthesis” is inspired by a text written by Mariken Heitman, (from the novel 'Wormmaan', chapter 21):
“We don't think about photosynthesis on a daily basis. Had it a sound, everything would be different. The first gray rays of light would produce a soft murmur. The trees towering over everyone else put their chlorophyll into action. The green pump begins, carbon dioxide enters the leaf and oxygen exits, all those leaves breathing. Soft clicks sound, of breaking and rearranging molecules. Buzzing sugars are shipped to growing points. As the light gains strength, as the sun rises higher and higher, the murmur and click will give way to a modest, polyphonic murmur, as shrubs and small trees also catch on, their chlorophyll also catching light and assimilating molecules. Breaking, shuffling, building, shipping. The earth becomes adrift, breathing louder and louder. And then, as the sun makes its way to its zenith, the grasses, herbs and agricultural crops will begin to sing, high and harmonious. They will drown out the insects, the trucks, factories and airplanes, forming a continuous carpet of sound. Their synthesis is sharp and quick, they have no more than a season to come to a finale, to seed. A chorus of alchemical green making dust out of seeming nothingness, out of gas and light, Until the sun, past its zenith, slowly sinks and first the low herbs, then the shrubs and finally the trees hold their breath and cease their singing. With the night the earth stills, temporarily."
Performed on 7 september 2024 at Loods 6 Open, Amsterdam.